Newborn Cloth Diapering

After months of hypotheticals, estimating, researching and best guesses I finally get to put my newborn cloth diaper stash to work! My little guy arrived in early February and my first go at true newborn cloth diapering has begun (my daughter was already 4 months when I first started cloth diapering her). Since there have been a lot of discussions and questions about newborn cloth diapering on this blog and on the Diapershops’ Facebook page I thought I might try to give you my real-time, as-I-go experiences to give moms of newborns (or soon to be) an idea of what they might encounter in the first weeks and months. To give you as much info as possible, my little man was 7 lbs 12 ounces and 20 ½ inches at birth. I put his first cloth diaper on him at two weeks. My hat is off to all of you moms that start right away (even in the hospital!) but I gave myself a little leeway and waited until life started to have some sort of normalcy before going all cloth.Two Weeks Old: At two weeks he is now 8 lbs 10 ounces and 21 ½ inches. His umbilical stump is still on so the only diapers that I have that will go under his stump are the Rumparooz Lil Joeys and the Imse Vimse Organic Cotton Cover. I love the snap-down of the Lil Joeys, the softness and the look. They aren’t bulky at all and the fit is just PERFECT on him. However, I have had quite a few leaks with these. I will say, this little guy seems like a heavy wetter (as compared to my daughter) but I just don’t like a diaper that I can’t rely on. The other con to these diapers is incredibly long drying times. I understand that AIO’s will always take longer, but these take a frustratingly long time.I bought the Imse Vimse cover in the Preemie Size after reading reviews about their sizing and weight range. It is a perfect fit: nice and fitted on the legs with no gaps, dips below his stump and is comfortably snug on his belly with room for growth. I first used the preemie prefolds but they just weren’t enough to handle him. I stepped up to the newborn size prefolds and they worked without any leaks. I gave prefolds and covers a shot after a lot of prompting from moms on this site. I understand that they are a great economical option for newborn cloth diapering and lots of moms out there love using prefolds, but they just aren’t my favorite. Whenever I change him the entire prefold is soaked which means his whole diaper area is wet. I just don’t like all of this wetness against my baby’s skin and, personally, I much prefer handling pockets or all-in-ones than a sopping wet prefold. Again, just my preference, but I will say they didn’t leak and certainly are a huge cost savings.

I am looking forward to his stump falling off when I can dive into the rest of my newborn stash and try out more fluff. I’m most excited about the Bum Genius All-in-Ones and the Fuzzi Bunz Pockets and, after two years of using these brands on my daughter, I have the feeling they won’t disappoint. Stay tuned for more of my real-time test drives

I also have a newborn -born mid. Feb. And I felt the same way about the prefolds, until I started using fleece liners with them. Yes, I hate that the dipe is wet all the way around his body, but at least with the liners, his bum stays dry to the touch. But luckily, he's now big enough (about 9lbs) for our one-size pocket diapers -and we're LOVING them!

I look forward to starting our cloth adventure with #2 sooner than with our first (who is currently 8 weeks, but we didn't start him in cloth until 6 weeks). I look forward to reading more about the other diapers and how they fit! Have you had any leaks?

I had my baby Jan 27th this year. I LOVED my fitteds :). I had some Kissaluv's size 0 and Heiny Huggers. My son was 8lbs 11 oz and we started Cloth diapering when he was 7 days old (when his stump fell off). I also had a bunch of prefolds but only used them when I HAD to. I didn't like them. So we washed every night in order to have enough dipes. I was ALWAYS a pocket mama and now I have bought him more and more fitteds. They seem to work so much better for us. He's about 15 lbs and 7 weeks and the pockets still don't fit well. He's huge but super long and his legs are still skinny. Oh my favorite cover was the thirsties duos.

Reading your post is very close to what we've done. My daughter was born at the end of February and we gave ourselves about a week before diving into the cloth full time. I only bought prefolds and covers and I love 'em! The only problem we had was with thrush giving her a bit of a bum rash. I don't mind the wetness so much because I can wipe down the cover and use it several times before throwing it in the laundry basket. I bought the newborn sizes to start us off and, at 8 weeks, she's 11 lbs and 4 oz, so we'll probably be in breaking into the Size 2 Thirsties Duo covers before we know it!

We had baby#2 6 wks early so CDing him has been a challenge the first three months. He is just starting to fit in the BG 4.0s we have. I love the prefolds and Bummis XS wraps myself. We also had good outcome with the XS FB and BG, although the AIOs are not a fave b/c of the drying time. But most newborns don't have to wait three months to fit, so consider yourself lucky!

Thank you for doing this series. I am planning on starting in the hospital this time. Totally agree with the suggestion of the fleece liners. I use lots of prefolds with my toddler, and when I want him to not feel wet (naps/night time) I use them. Will most certainly be checking into the imse vimse cover!

I'm expecting a new one in August and have been wondering about newborn/preemie cloth diapers – so thanks for this post! I had my eye on the Lil Joeys… so it's good to know they leaked so I can look elsewhere!

I have a heavy wetting little one too, and prefolds are the only thing I have tried that's absorbent enough for him. I cut 5×12 rectangles from microfleece and lay them over the prefold for a stay dry solution.

I'm glad I'm not the only one… we bought several Lil Joeys for our little one, she is 8 days old. We have been using them for 3 days and have had at least 3 leaks per day so far. This is our first cloth diapering experience (as it is our first child) any suggestions?